Port Vale boss Michael Brown is looking forward to having Tyrone Barnett back in action after revealing the striker is close to returning to training.

The 31-year-old has suffered injury problems since tearing his hamstring in a pre-season friendly at Kidsgrove Athletic.

But the target man, who joined the Valiants on a free transfer from AFC Wimbledon in July, is making good progress as Brown looks forward to having the extra firepower in his squad.

The manager said: “Tyrone came from Wimbledon and hadn’t played for a while and he has picked up that injury in pre-season. It is something different than he did in the Kidsgrove game. It is great to see him train extremely hard at the moment and he is not far away. He is looking a lot leaner and fitter. We have set him a fitness programme and will hopefully get him raring to go.

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“He has started doing some ball work now and some runs so he shouldn’t be too far away. We might still be talking a couple of weeks, we have to make sure he is okay.

“But he is working very hard and that is what has impressed me. He was possibly in a frustrated place, where you are not in as physically as good a condition as you would be, and he has probably not played the games he would have liked at Wimbledon.

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“So, we are working with him and hopefully he can hit the ground running. It will take a bit of time, for such a big framed, big lad to get going, but he will certainly be a great addition for us.”

Port Vale manager Michael Brown

Barnett is a former West Brom youth player who got his break in the Football League with Macclesfield in 2010. He moved on to Crawley before then-Championship club Peterborough paid £1.2m for him in 2012.

Barnett made 17 starts and 27 substitute appearances for the Dons last season. His five goals included one in their 4-0 win at home to Vale in December after he came on as a late substitute.